Bab 158: Discussion.
Once, Edward had seen the boy of 10, jumping around the cliff while juggling knives for fun. The boy jumped from the highest cliff without thought and could hold his breath for over 5 minutes, and his flexibility was unmatched.
The boy was placed under Jinx by Edward's advice as he wanted to punish Jinx with a mischievous brat like Jinx had annoyed him with his silly actions when Edward was his mentor. He never talked to the boy much, but he remembered his name.
Today, it is more than 15 years since that time. The boy he had known had grown, and his skills and mind matured for combat and the mind games he played on his enemies. Edward had longed for this interaction, but it haunted him now.
"How have the times changed?" Edward commented on Arthur's changes, but he still had golden hair and brown eyes. His cloak was coloured in scarlet red dye, and there was no hint of blood or water on his cloak.
"Take a seat, Mr. Kenway. We need to have an important discussion ahead. I want to make sure you do not die from the exhaustion. Have some well-preserved and cooked beef. Tastes amazing with that some coffee."
Arthur spoke to Edward while he was eating and Edward sat down and took a look at his plate. Hot beef with a cup of wine instead of coffee was kept royally for him. Edward began eating, and he did not disturb Arthur. This was his chance to recover if it ever came to a fight.
Soon the plates and cups were empty. Edward had not enjoyed a wine this good, the black pearl he had earlier left like a joke now.
"I hope you enjoyed the food to your fullest, Mr. Kenway. Let's get down to business." Arthur placed his hands on the table and stared at Edward.
"We should do that," Edward answered while cleaning his mouth with a napkin. The time of questioning and answering had begun, one question at a time and no cross-question to the answer, like they were taught.
"So, first a question for you assassin. What happened to Jinx and your other brothers and sisters? You were supposed to be under his command. Did you take over the assassins and change the rules?"
"A bold question and reasoning indeed. The answer to that will be no. During a mission, I lost Jinx and my other allies. I was the only survivor of that and did not try something as big as you, I still am a loyal son to Father."
"A son to father yet only an ally to his fellow assassin. Why do you lie so openly Arthur, what do you want to say?" Edward didn't say it out loud.
"It is my turn to ask, Mr. Kenway. I should ask how was your journey of making of capturing the central city and the thieves. I hope you made good use of my letters, as you can see my allies are currently busy with other tasks and I was cooking this beef for dinner. So, let me in."
"Hmm... I enjoyed the beef thank you for that. Now, talking about my campaign, I used your flare alongside a good amount of gunpowder to blast away the Italian men, then I opened the door and immediately took the thieves as allies. It was a bit chaotic, but Nolan and Percy helped me get control. Then, we rallied to the barracks leaving a few thieves behind to defend. While we moved towards the warehouse, you did your three explosions. Then your second letter came, and I read it and kept on proceeding, the path of quite clean after Isabella's group had passed through. In conclusion, I would have a harder time if it weren't for you." Edward raised his empty wine glass towards Arthur.
"How did you find out about this room in fact, there must be other routes hiding in this area. How did you know any of this? What secrets does this place hide?"
"I think we are way too off from the question I can answer. Please ask me a more answerable question. If you want to know the secrets, why not ask King Lucius to tear down this wall for the public and let them see."
"Now, my turn. How did you know I was alone, separated from my groups?"
"I have my sources, Edward. I can't compromise by allies. I have gained their trust by loyalty of course."
"Then what of Henry? You gave him away to me. He helped you open the gates and hide the Italians in the port and buildings of the city. He risked so much and you do not mean him your ally? what a shame."
"I think you argue but consider this too that he failed to kill Isabella and Thomas in that regard. I infiltrated this area a month ago, and I only told him about my plans because his brother and I share a deep bond. He learned the plans a few days ago and, I had already made all the required arrangements for the attack. He fails to do the most minor tasks I had requested of him."
Edward listened carefully, he now knew how much Arthur knew and, it wasn't a pleasant site.
"Now, it is my turn to question, but I'd like to pose the request I called you here for."
"..."
"During the war between Asphodel and Lynx, Asphodel stood victorious. That much everybody knows but, the thing I was interested in was why Asphodel was able to access Lynx's port so easily. Lynx had the largest wooden resources, and there quantity must have been enough to push away Asphodel's best ships but, they weren't able to. Why?"
Arthur posed the question to Edward. He was testing him.
"A large navel trade with one other nation. They have good wood for making ships. If they could stop any information escape. They could build a fleet in no time but it was not possible to hide a fleet's construction at a large scale so Lynx instead tried to hide their trade act and failed at it. "
Arthur smiled at Edward's response indicating that he was correct.
"The trade was between Lynx and the French. The French had guarded the ships as the woods were being transferred and now those ships have returned. The ships which bring payment of the woods in under the protection of Lynx meaning the French have no relation to the trade now. I want you to intercept that payment ships and cripple Yuuka's finances."
"I understand that now. Yuuka, Lucius, Milize Asina, You and whoever is commanding Axum are not the sharpest in terms of naval combat. So, you want my help to take down the ships to your benefit."
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. After all, Yuuka holds the most resources of the four kingdoms but the largest hungry stomachs too. He will need that money to buy his people food. If we can force this out of him, his progress can be controlled until our battle settles. I don't want to end up winning over you and then get crushed by Yuuka due to sheer force and I can promise no attack will be issued on your daughter or Isabella as to say."
"I understand. I think I can take up your offer. I think we have a sweet deal here but do not expect I would leave your castle ports go free. They are still in danger from me."
"I have no problems from that-" Arthur got up from his chair and stood up.
"- I hope we will both follow our promises."Please move and enter the toilet to make your leave." Arthur began turning his back and walking towards the wall on the other side, where a leaver stuck out.
"Before I leave. Arthur, can you tell me about your mission where Jinx and your allies got killed?"
"You can but do not expect an answer."
Edward got up from his seat and began walking backwards.
"I have a small doubt, my mind had this stupid idea. It thinks that you were the one that killed all your allies on the mission and it also thinks that it happened during the war between Lyncx and Asphodel. Can you please give me an answer?
"No..." The silence after the no answered a thousand questions, Rage was a survivor of Arthur's plans. Edward had a theory and it was proven true and he planted the seed of doubt in Arthur's mind, he had a thousand questions now.
Edward turned around and opened the door of the toilet and moved inside.
"Edward make sure to pick up the the bottle I kept on the floor. Apply it on your arm and you feel free of pain just as you felt when you woke up. Good morning, Edward. Make sure to visit the church today. I have freed your friend, Thomas, make sure to go with him."
Edward closed the door after hearing that and Arthur upped the lever with a smile on his confidence shining through him.
"How was there a thief in the centre of the city? Why did my arm feel so much better after I woke up from such a short nap?...."
While Edward left questions for Arthur the latter had answered every question Edward had about the night.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The last chapter of the vol, tomorrow. \ (•◡•) /\ (•◡•) /\ (•◡•) /\ (•◡•) /
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
D2_E2_V2
D2_E2_V2 Thank you for the 300 collections and 170k views.
\ (•◡•) /\ (•◡•) /\ (•◡•) /\ (•◡•) /\ (•◡•) /\ (•◡•) /
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone